300,000 Chickens Die in Factory Farm Fire

By Amanda Just | February 4, 2014

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S&R Egg Farm in La Grange, Wisconsin, housed 2.4 million egg-laying hens on property that sprawls over 800 acres of farmland. Those numbers changed dramatically after a 4-alarm fire took the lives of about 300,000 chickens over the weekend.

Firefighters from four different nearby fire departments responded to the call. Matt Salemme of WISN Channel 12 said he could see the fire clearly from the news chopper from 15 miles away. Salemme also said that “no injuries were reported,” ignoring the thousands of chickens who perished in that tragic fire.

In a statement, the company said that just one of its 14 barns was lost in the fire. Their offices and egg processing and packaging facilities were unscathed. S&R, which produces up to 2 million eggs, plans to rebuild the lost barn.

While we can be thankful that no humans were harmed in this fire, let’s take a moment to think of those 300,000 chickens who were already living a miserable life in crammed cages, but then had their lives end in such a horrific way.